ONEKAMA TWP. — The Onekama Township Fire Department recently was awarded a $53,005 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Assistance to Firefighters Grants program.

 Rob Johnson, Onekama Township Fire Department assistant chief, said the department members were excited to learn they received the grant. 

“We currently have airpacks that the manufacturer is no longer in business so we have to replace all the airpacks on our trucks for our fire department people. They’re pretty expensive,” he said. “I think we’re going to get eight or nine sets of air breathing packs for going inside structure fires.”

The Onekama Township Fire Department was awarded a $53,005 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Assistance to Firefighters Grants program.

The grants were awarded on Aug. 26, according to FEMA.

Johnson said it was the first time he was aware of the department receiving that particular grant. 

“It’s kind of uncharted waters for us right now working through what we got to do next — the next steps,” he said, adding that one next step is to figure out the required invoicing and purchasing process for the grant. 

He said the department also needs to pay a 5% match on the grant, or about $2,650 toward the airpacks. 

FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters Grants have also previously been awarded to the Manistee City Fire Department. 

See a full searchable table of all the fire departments nationwide that were awarded the FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grants online at manisteenews.com

Last year the department was awarded $93,333 for operations and safety, according to FEMA’s website. The city of Manistee was awarded a grant for $104,500 in 2018 and $47,620 in 2015, the site’s section on Assistance to Firefighters Grants shows.

This year, the largest grant was awarded to the Vauclain S M Fire Department in Pennsylvania in the amount of $999,272. Last year the top recipient was the Houston Fire Department at $999,551

Manistee County’s neighbor to the south also was awarded a grant. The Mason County Rural Fire Authority in Custer is set to receive $247,100 to purchase new turn out gear. 

I mainly grew up in Gladwin, but have moved around living in other states and even in Japan for a time. I attended Mid Michigan Community College and Central Michigan University where I studied journalism, cultural anthropology and Japanese language and culture. I have won a list of Michigan Press Association awards in categories like investigative enterprise reporting, as well as other journalistic awards such as the Inland Press Association Newsroom Contest award for my contextual coverage of Great Lakes drownings, and was a top-20 winner of the Hearst Radio Competition's collegiate category.  Prior to the News Advocate, I was the editor in chief and a reporter for the Gaylord Herald Times, a reporter for CMU Public Radio, a reporter for CM-Life newspaper and the Laker Current.